MNC model puts grocers on shopping block

MUMBAI: Your grocer isn''t going to like this. If Hindustan Lever Limited''s latest initiative takes off, he could soon be on the endangered species list.
The consumer goods major has launched a new network that has eliminated the need for a middleman and put grocery shopping firmly on the BPO road. All you have to do is contact a call centre and your order of ''daal-chawal'' and ''kaandabatata'' will be delivered at your doorstep.
Called Sangam, the new initiative has been thrown up by the company''s Millennium project and has emerged from the possibility of using the e-tailing model for organised retailing.
"Consumers visit three to four different outlets for their monthly purchases, so we decided to tap this opportunity and launched Sangam," said Dalip Sehgal, HLL executive director (new ventures and marketing services).
"However,we felt that for e-tailing to succeed it had to move out of the web, and looked at the telephone, given the Mumbai consumer''s penchant for using it to place orders," Mr Sehgal said.
The Sangam model revolves around a central call centre, a warehouse, a packaging unit and a delivery network, all of which are outsourced to third parties. HLL has its own team supervising IT, finance and other functions involved in the process.
Once a customer has placed his or her order with the call centre, it is passed on to the nearest warehouse, which gets the products together and packages them. The delivery unit then drops off the order at the customer''s house, within 24 hours, according to the customer''s convenience. Initially launched in Thane, the Sangam network is currently functioning in parts of central Mumbai.
The facility will soon be offered in other parts of Mumbai before being launched in 30 cities across the country. The company has not limited itself to selling only HLL products— its portfolio includes products and brands from a variety of companies, some of them HLL''s competitors.
Sangam offers a choice of 3,500 products and brands. The consumer is given a choice of delivery time, and payments are made on a cashon-delivery basis, although a plastic option will soon be available, HLL said.